Travel

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

My first time having the gam ja tang (pork neck stew) at Ham Ji Park got me hooked. I kept craving it for so long. Then one day I saw a Restaurant.com gift certificate for the place! (PS. Restaurant.com has a 70% off promotion through 2/21 with code: ENJOY.)

I somehow managed to move my night out with the Cybernetics boys away from our usual Barro's. Even if they were 45 minutes late. I was holding the table drinking a whole pitcher of barley tea while people were waiting in line, and on top of that I used a $25 gift certificate. Ham Ji Park must hate me now.

There's a grill on the table but looks like they don't really use it anymore. They covered ours with the banchan (my faves: marinated potato, bean sprouts, cucumber - the non spicy stuff, you know).My first and main order of business: Pork Neck Stew (Gam Ja Tang) - $15This is also the dish that puts Ham Ji Park on the map. The stew of pork neck and potato is served in a stone pot and is big enough to feed two or three people. The meat was fall-off-the-bone tender and the broth packs a lot of the gochujang flavor. Serve this over a bowl of rice and I'm good.

You can also order some marinated pork ribs ($16.99) which are sweet and tender. You don't grill the ribs yourselves but instead they're served on a sizzling plate.Ham Ji Park serves a solid and satisfying meal, especially for the pork lovers. If you're not so much into pork, I also recommend the spicy squid with noodles.

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comments:

Wow, that is a giant bowl of stew! It seems like lots of Korean restaurants have grills but never use them. I've been to several places where they say they will grill it at the table but end up never doing so.

Hamjipark is great, one of my favorite Korean restaurants in L.A. Sadly, I've never eaten the pork neck stew, though that's the dish that Mattatouille raves about too. The squid with vermicelli is incredible, and I'm also a big fan of the sizzling pork ribs.

They do use the grills, but only for the marinated discs of top sirloin, which are also good.